


Clinging Memories

by Saraste



Series: 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (nothing graphic) - Freeform, 14. not a creature was stirring, Advent Ficlet Challenge 2019, Christmas, M/M, Malfoy-Potter family, POV Draco Malfoy, Past Child Abuse, Wrapping Presents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21795056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saraste/pseuds/Saraste
Summary: Draco has put the children to bed after an exhausting day and the house is silent and safe... but not from memories.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558918
Kudos: 35
Collections: 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge





	Clinging Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 14. not a creature was stirring of the 2019 Advent Ficlet Challenge.
> 
> Set in the same verse as [A Weasley Christmas,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21782929) although Esme and Amy are three and Leo is five in this. The twins did not come from a happy home situation, which is not referenced graphically, please proceed with caution.

Draco flopped onto the couch with a groan and listened for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. There was no sound from upstairs. Yet. He didn’t dare hope that it would remain so for the whole night. But so far it was blessedly silent.

‘Esme or Amy?’ Harry asked from the floor, where he was wrapping presents, having gotten a head start while Draco had been putting the children to bed, it being his turn, and because the twins had been fussy and he always got them settled easier than Harry.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. He was angry, not at the twins, but their biological parents and the girls first year, that lost year, which still sometimes manifested as nightmares after emotionally trying days, which this had been. It didn’t matter if it was happy exhaustion, like today with their first sleighing of the season, it still sometimes triggered something dark and desperate, leading to clinging and nightmares.

‘Esme. But she settled down after a third story and a cuddle, Amy was down like a light after two and Leo snoozed after the first.’ The girls were three, they should feel safe, there shouldn’t be nightmares. But thankfully they were less and less these days.

He looked at Harry, at his hunched shoulders, the way he was occupying himself with ribbon. There was nothing to it, he had to get down onto the floor beside him, get down behind him and hug Harry, spooning him from behind. ‘I’m sorry,’ he told the back of Harry’s neck where he pressed a kiss, his hands circling him inside a hug.

Harry’s hands came up to cover his. ‘I don’t remember.’

It was a lie and half-truth. Harry had buried his early childhood memories so deep that he could say that he didn’t remember, but he had still been left with a deep-seated longing for acceptance and often clung to Draco in the night, though most of that was because of the War that had made him grow up too fast, taken something from him that could never be regained. That the girls had suffered neglect in their early life, that he and Harry had not gotten them sooner… they both hated that. But they were giving them all the best childhood they knew how and that had to be enough.

Draco hugged Harry some more, their fingers slotted together over Harry’s chest, and they listened to the stillness of the evening, unbroken only by the crackling in the fireplace, there was not even a creak from upstairs. Finally, he kissed a favourite spot behind Harry’s ear and let go of his hands. ‘Let’s get these presents wrapped and have an early night, how does that sound?’

Harry shifted and drew him into as kiss, cupping his face between his palms. ‘That sounds great.’

And, so they did.


End file.
